


In Better Days

by flootzavut



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friends to more, Friendship, M/M, Minor Character Death, Post canon, WIP, deepening relationships, queer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-26 01:10:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15652704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flootzavut/pseuds/flootzavut
Summary: "Friendships like theirs don't just die. They crossed the Pacific, were dragged into war to meet. What's the width of a continent in comparison?"





	In Better Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [onekisstotakewithme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/onekisstotakewithme/gifts), [hilariousandunappreciated](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hilariousandunappreciated/gifts), [Superpennyable](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superpennyable/gifts), [grumpyfaceurn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpyfaceurn/gifts), [absinthe118](https://archiveofourown.org/users/absinthe118/gifts), [summercarntspel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/summercarntspel/gifts).



> This one goes out especially to my fellow Swamp rats and survivors of That Movie ♥️
> 
> Title from the [Neil Diamond song](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J9uoJZky0FU).

* * *

**_In Better Days_ **

* * *

 

He tells himself over and over what he told Hawk that last day. They'll see one another again, he'll make it work; it doesn't matter that they live on opposite coasts. Friendships like theirs don't just die. They crossed the Pacific, were dragged into war to meet. What's the width of a continent in comparison?

But reality isn't kind, and they're both doctors, both busy, and BJ has a wife and a little girl, and time isn't kind either, and it keeps not happening.

Then one day, there's a knock on his door, and when he opens it, his heart lurches in his chest because it's Hawk, it's Hawkeye on his doorstep, it's  _Benjamin fucking Franklin Pierce_  standing there large as life.

For a moment he just stares. Part of him wondered sometimes if he made Hawkeye up to survive the nightmare that was Korea, if he was exchanging occasional letters with his own alter ego, but now the two parts of his life have somehow crashed together, and here's Hawkeye in San Francisco, and suddenly BJ's grinning and laughing and reaching out, and Hawk is hugging him as fierce and tender as he did that last time.

"You son of a gun!" BJ manages.

Hawkeye laughs, a kind of strained, choked up laugh, and his fists clench in BJ's shirt.

"Hawkeye?"

BJ pulls back enough to wrap an arm around Hawkeye's shoulders and usher him into the house, into the kitchen which is warm and sunny and welcoming, and it's so strange but so good to see Hawkeye in these beautifully mundane surroundings.

Hawkeye peers up at him, uncharacteristically reticent. "Didn't know where else to go," he says, almost apologetic.

"You're always welcome here. I wish you would've told me you were coming."

Hawkeye takes a deep breath. "Beej... my..." He shakes his head. BJ squeezes his shoulder. "I didn't know where else to go. My dad died, Beej. My dad died."

His face crumples, and BJ couldn't tell you who moved, but Hawk's in his arms again, and it's second nature to rub his back and murmur sympathy and compassion in his ear.

"He was home, Beej," Hawkeye says eventually, voice breaking. "He was home, and now he's gone. It wasn't home anymore. And you're home too, so I came here."

BJ swallows hard and holds Hawkeye a little tighter. "You should've told me. I would've come."

Which is ridiculous but true. BJ never met Daniel Pierce, but always wanted to, always felt like he knew Daniel from the letters and the way Hawkeye talked about his father. There's sharp regret in BJ's chest that he left it too late. He's grateful that at least Peg got to meet Daniel, but God, he really wanted to as well.

He would've gone to the funeral, though. Would've been there for Hawk, would've stood up with him and held him up. "You should've told me," he says again, more quietly.

Hawkeye shakes his head into BJ's shoulder. "Knew you'd be here. Knew you'd be right here when I needed you," he says, with the certainty in his voice of a friendship that's been tested in the fire. "Knew I had a home to come to."

BJ closes his eyes against the emotions this all stirs up. "You'll have a home as long as I do, Hawk."

They stay like that for a long time, and it's almost startling how familiar and comforting it is to have his arms full of Hawkeye Pierce. They were always in each other's space, Hawkeye was always just an arm's length away and ready to comfort or tease or help. The few occasions they actually got separated for any length of time were the worst parts of the war for BJ; worrying Hawk was lost, was dead, those are memories he'd like to forget. Hawk was his family away from family. He was everything that made Korea bearable. They haven't seen each other since, and letters only go so far, but now it's as if they were never apart. Really, the only potential problem is if Hawkeye isn't sticking around.

Now he's got Hawk here, BJ never wants to let go.


End file.
